Utilising waste heat from Edge-computing Micro Data Centres : Financial and Environmental synergies, Opportunities, and Business Models

Abstract: In recent times, there has been an explosion in the need for high-density computing and data processing. As a result the Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) demand on global energy resources has tripled in the last five years. Edge computing - bringing computing power close to the user, is set to be the cornerstone of future communication and information transport, satisfying the demand for instant response times and zero latency needed for applications such as 5G, self-driving vehicles, face recognition, and much more. The Micro Data Centre (micro DC) is key hardware in the shift to edge computing. Being self-contained, with in-rack liquid cooling systems, these micro data centres can be placed anywhere they are needed the most - often in areas not thought of as locations for datacentres, such as offices and housing blocks. This presents an opportunity to make the ICT industry greener and contribute to lowering total global energy demand, while fulfilling both the need for data processing and heating requirements. If a solution can be found to capture and utilise waste heat from the growing number of micro data centres, it would have a massive impact on overall energy consumption. This project will explore this potential synergy through investigating two different ways of utilising waste heat. The first being supplying waste heat to the District Heating network (Case 1), and the second using the micro DC as a ’data furnace’ supplying heat to the near vicinity (Case 2 and 3). Two scenarios of differing costs and incomes will be exploredin each case, and a sensitivity analysis will be performed to determine how sensitive each scenario is to changing internal and external factors. Results achieved were extremely promising. Capturing waste heat from micro data centres, and both supplying the local district heating network as well as providing the central heating of the near vicinity, is proving to be both economically and physically viable. The three different business models (’Cases’) created not only show good financial promise, but they demonstrate a way of creating value in a greener way of computing and heat supply. The amount of waste heat able to be captured is sufficient to heat many apartments in residential blocks and office buildings, and the temperatures achieved have proven to be sufficient to meet the heating requirements of these facilities, meaning no extra energy is required for the priming of waste heat. It is the hope that the investigations and analyses performed in this thesis will further the discussion around the utilisation of waste heat from lower energy sources, such as micro DCs, so that one day, potential can become reality.